Les' longevity truly remarkable

• Murakami says thanks, farewell after 31 years

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Sports Columnist

When Les Murakami departed Rainbow Stadium yesterday, exiting a 31-year career to a moving ovation, it marked the end to more than an amazing era in University of Hawai'i baseball history.

It also closed a possibly never-to-be-seen-again chapter in UH athletics, one remarkable for being the longest tenure by the coach of a revenue-producing sport in the school's Division I history.

That last achievement might soon qualify as a Hall of Fame-worthy accomplishment on its own.

For whoever eventually emerges as Murakami's successor in the Rainbow dugout — and an announcement may not be forthcoming for another month — chances are he will be lucky to endure for even half as long.

Not because the game has changed so much, but because the landscape surrounding it has. Both at UH and elsewhere.

And it isn't just baseball. It is all the revenue sports that are being asked to pay the freight on UH's 19-sport, $16 million athletic program.

With the athletic department mandated to work toward financial self sufficiency by the administration while still staying competitive and moving toward federal Title IX compliance, athletic director Hugh Yoshida has forecast the need for a $20 million budget within three years.

If the pressure to fill seats isn't enough, then there is also growing scrutiny. Not just from the traditional outlets, the administration, media and the stands. But also from the 21st century forums, internet chat rooms and talk radio.

Murakami alluded to as much last year at the press conference to announce 2001 would be his last season. "I hope they (the other head coaches) all win because you have to these days to keep everybody happy," Murakami said.

And, sometimes, even winning isn't enough. The precarious position that head coaches can find themselves in has recently been illustrated by the fact that two coaches who took their teams to postseason play this year, Bob Coolen (softball) and Mike Wilton (men's volleyball), are down to the final weeks of their contracts.

And the contract of men's basketball coach Riley Wallace, whose Rainbows won the Western Athletic Conference Tournament, is reportedly set to expire April 30, 2002 unless he is granted an extension.

Which is why, other than Wahine volleyball coach Dave Shoji, who will enter his 27th season in the fall, it is unlikely any other revenue coach will even have an opportunity to match Murakami's three decades.

The 54-year old Shoji, who has talked about possibly going into athletic administration somewhere down the line, says he might have to coach that long. "I have to keep working; my youngest child is in the fifth grade."

You wonder if Murakami had started his UH coaching career in 2001 instead of 1971 whether he would have been able to count on the same thing.